Legal Question in Employment Law in California

I know I will have to seek an attorney on this issue and will do so shortly. And I have the money to pay. But I need to understand the issue first. May I ask for advice so I can at least learn to frame the issue succinctly?

I was a professor and OLD UNIVERSITY.

I was granted a sabbatical.

According to a promissory note I signed, if I do not return from the sabbatical (e.g.: take a job elsewhere, which I have done, taking a new position at NEW UNIVERSITY), I must pay back the sabbatical. And this is perfectly fine with me.

So I terminated my position with OLD UNIVERSITY.

But before I did, I asked NEW UNIVERSITY if they would pay back the sabbatical for me. They agreed to this.

Now once one retires from OLD UNIVERSITY, one has 60 days to do the following

Continue health care

Continue dental care

Continue eye care

Continue life insurance.

If these things are not done in 60 days, they are lost as options.

I completed the first three, but was one day late on the life insurance. Too bad for me. I accept fate. I accept my fate for my delay. This loss was due to my violating the 60 day rule.

In those 60 days, I received no notice from OLD UNIVERSITY to pay back the sabbatical (I add that there is no requirement to act in the 60 days in the promissory note).

So in those 60 days I wrote one, two, three emails to the proper people at OLD UNIVERSITY. The first email was ignored. In the second, I was told I would receive the invoice soon (that was a month ago). In the third, I was told that no one ever defaults so there is no known system to collect. (Imagine that! I was diligent in asking NEW UNIVERSITY to get everything ready for a swift payment and I am then told that OLD UNIVERSITY does not know how to do this!)

In the meantime, NEW UNIVERSITY informed me that this must be done quickly, or the state will take back the money. They had been holding it for 60 days and were getting anxious.

So I wrote a fourth time to OLD UNIVERSITY and the email was ignored.

Then I emailed a FIFTH time. In that email I informed them that there is an urgency in receiving the invoice.

Their response was �We cannot do this overnight just because NEW UNIVERSITY wants it.�

I reminded them that this was NOT �overnight� and that I have been asking for over 60 days. I informed OLD UNIVERSITY that I was held to a standard and paid a penalty with regard to life, dental, eye and health. So how can OLD UNIVERSITY drag this out and ignore standards? I informed OLD UNIVERSITY that the money is ready to be given, I want to be ethical, is in an account and we are waiting for ONLY ONE INVOICE. And then I went ahead and created the invoice and emailed it to them. It is a very simple form. All OLD UNIVERSITY had to do is put it on letterhead and email it to me and the money would be given. And they are doing nothing.

And now I am on the verge of losing the funds from NEW UNIVERSITY.

If that happens, do I have a rigth not to pay it back? I want to pay it back. I negotiated to pay it back. OLD UNIVERSITY KNOWS the money is there, they know the timing issue and they are doing nothing. And now I am going to lose the money.

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